The meeting was attended by Ahmed Kouchouk, Minister of Finance; Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources; Essam Omar, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt; and officials from both ministries.
Dr. Madbouly strssed that this initiative is a government priority, implementing President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's directives to expand the conversion and replacement of vehicles to run on natural gas. This initiative is a positive step toward supporting the state's efforts to increase reliance on clean and renewable energy sources, as well as achieving critical environmental standards.
He pointed out that this system generates significant savings and returns for its beneficiaries, directing the formulation of incentives to help attract beneficiaries of the initiative to convert their vehicles to run on natural gas. He also highlighted the importance of encouraging car fueling stations to operate a natural gas component, which would contribute to increasing the number of branches serving beneficiaries of this project and providing the infrastructure to support this approach. He proposed facilitating the implementation procedures of these stations for the private sector, in line with full cooperation with the private sector in this system.
Counselor Mohamed El-Homsani, the official spokesperson for the Cabinet, stated that the meeting reviewed the expected results of the first phase of this initiative, which aims to convert approximately 220,000 vehicles between 2025/2026 and 2027/2028, starting with 50,000 vehicles during 2025-2026. The estimated natural gas consumption for this phase and the annual return achieved by the beneficiary were explained. It was noted that the minimum savings for citizens when using natural gas instead of gasoline amounts to approximately EGP 2,270 per month.
El-Homsani added that the meeting also reviewed the procedures for applying to participate in the initiative, which is scheduled to be launched, through a digital system that allows applications to be submitted and registered via the newly developed website. The steps for converting a vehicle to run on natural gas then begin with a technical inspection of the vehicle, obtaining technical approval for the conversion, and signing the necessary contracts. The state bears a portion of the conversion cost, while the citizen bears the remaining cost in equal installments without interest.